Impact of mass-loss on the evolution and pre-supernova properties of red supergiants

GEORGES MEYNET; CHOMIENNE, V.; EKSTRÖM, S.; GEORGY, C.; GRANADA, A.; GROH, J.; MAEDER, A.; EGGENBERGER, P.; LEVESQUE, E.; MASSEY, P.

ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

EDP SCIENCES S A

Lugar: Paris; Año: 2015 vol. 575

0004-6361

Context. The post-main-sequence evolution of massive stars is very sensitive to many parameters of the stellar models. Key parameters are the mixing processes, the metallicity, the mass-loss rate, and the effect of a close companion. Aims: We study the change in the red supergiant (RSG) lifetimes, the tracks in the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram(HRD), the positions in this diagram of the pre-supernova progenitor and the structure of the stars at that time for various mass-loss rates during the RSG phase and for two different initial rotation velocities. Methods: Stellar models were computed with the Geneva code for initial masses between 9 and 25 Msun at solar metallicity (Z = 0.014) with 10 times and 25 times the standard mass-loss rates during the RSG phase, with and without rotation. Results: The surface abundances of RSGs are much more sensitive to rotation than to the mass-loss rates during that phase. A change of the RSG mass-loss rate has a strong impact on the RSG lifetimes and in turn on the luminosity function of RSGs. An observed RSG is associated with a modelof higher initial mass when models with an enhanced RSG mass-loss rate are used to deduce that mass. At solar metallicity, models with an enhanced mass-loss rate produce significant changes in the populations of blue, yellow, and RSGs. When extended blue loops or blueward excursions are produced by enhanced mass-loss, the models predict that a majority of blue (yellow) supergiants are post-RSG objects. These post-RSG stars are predicted to show much lower surface rotational velocities than similar blue supergiants on their first crossing of the HR gap. Enhanced mass-loss rates during the RSG phase have little impact on the Wolf-Rayet populations. The position in the HRD of the end point of the evolution depends on the mass of the hydrogen envelope. More precisely, whenever at the pre-supernova stage the H-rich envelope contains more than about 5% of the initial mass, the star is a RSG, and whenever the H-rich envelope contains less than 1% of the total mass,the star is a blue supergiant. For intermediate situations, intermediate colors and effective temperatures are obtained. Yellow progenitors for core-collapse supernovae can be explained by models with an enhanced mass-loss rate, while the red progenitors are better fitted by models with the standard mass-loss rate.